Process for removing rough and irregular foreign seeds from clover and other smooth seeds.



No. 813,404. PATENTED FEB. 27, 1906. I D. s. 000K.

PROCESS FOR REMOVING ROUGH AND IRREGULAR FOREIGN SEEDS FROM OLOVER ANDOTHER SMOOTH SEEDS.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 19. 1905.

I ,INVENTOR- Den/1i 5. Coo/T;

BY Mafi ATTORNEYS other Smooth Seeds, of

UNITED srA'r as PATENT orrron.

DAVID s. 000K, or BASIL, OHIO, ASSIGNOR or ONE-THIRD TO JosEPH w.

MGGORD AND ON E-THIRD TO WILLIAM S. COOK,

OF COLUMBUS. OHIO.

SEEDS.

Specification of Letters Patent. Application filed July 19,1905. SerialNo. 270.312

Patented Feb. 27, mod

To (ii/Z whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, DAVID S. 000K, a citizen of the United States,residing at Basil, in the county of Fairfield and State of Ohio, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Processesfor RemovingRough and Irregular Foreign Seeds from Glover and which the following isa specification.

This invention relates to a new and useful process for removing roughand irregular foreign seeds from clover and other smooth seeds.

It is .a well-known fact that seeds coming from a huller embody manyrough and irregular seeds as well as clover and smooth seeds.

4 and weight.

These rough and irregular seeds are detrimental to the qualityof theproduct and are difiicult to remove. In fact, heretofore it has beenalmost im ossible to separate the objectionable seeds Tom thedesirable'seeds, as they are both of practically the same size The mostcommon foreign seed encountered is the buckhorn. ThlS seed is oval inoutline, rounded at its ends, and on one side and on its other side ishollowed or grooved.

-The process consists first in mixing the seeds with a paste preferablycomposed of some readily-dryin adhesive material in which is incorporatea suitable heavy material to increase the specific gravity of the paste.The astebein mixed with the seeds readily fills t 1e groove or hollowedportions of the buckhorn-seeds or any irregularities or concavities onthe surfaces of the foreign seeds. The second step of the processconsists in drying the mass of mingled seeds and paste, the characterand duration of which depending-upon the paste employed. The third stepcontemplates a suitable agitation of the seeds, whereb the paste isremoved from the surfaces of tfie smooth seeds and the smooth portionsof the surfaces of the irregular or foreign seeds, the paste depositedin the hollowed or grooved portions, however, being undisturbed. Thesmooth seeds are thus cleaned and highly polished and will be lighterthan the foreign seeds, each of which contain tutes the fourth step ofthe process. The separation may be accomplished in various manners andwill dependsomewhat on the character of paste used. For instance, if thepaste includes lead-dust or other heavy material combined witha smallproportion of flour and water or other adhesive material a the weight ofthe buckhorn-seed will be increased to such an extent that it could beeasily separated on a suitable seed-mill, or if the paste was made fromiron filings or dust mixed as above the separation could be effected byallowing the seeds to pass over a series of magnets, to which thebuckhorn-seeds, with the iron paste in their grooves, would cling andcould be cleaned off from time to time by suitable means.

Various manners of removing the buck horn-seeds by magnetic attractioncould be employed, and it has been found that a simple way ofaccomplishing the result is to allow the seeds to fall or pass through ama netic field, which causes the buckhorn-see s owing to their metallicdeposits to be deflected and fall into a separate compartment,

\ PROCESS FOR REMOVING ROUGH AND IRREGULAR FOREIGN SEEDS FROM CLOVER ANDOTHER SMOOTH a thus being separated from the clover-seeds, I

which are allowed: to fall into another oompartment or receptacle. I

In order to more clearly present the process, an apparatus by which theprocess may be carried out has been illustrated in the annexed drawings,in which- Figure 1 is a side elevation of the apparatus. Fig. '2 is anend elevation. Fig. 3 is a detailed view showing the grooved side of abuckhorn seed and a cross-section of the same, and Fig. 4 is a detailedview showing a sida1 elevation and an end elevation of a cloversee Incarrying out the process in connection with the ap aratus illustrated inthe draw- -in s the see s and suitably-mixed paste are fe through a hoper into an elongated cylinder or tube 2. X shaft 3, extendinlongitudinally1 of the cylinder and suita ly revolved as mounted on itsportion adjacent the ho per a short spiral feeds t e seeds and pastealong the cylinder, so that they are encountered by a plurality of shortlugs 5, arranged in spiral form on the shaft 3. The lugs 5 tend to mixthe paste and seeds and gradually force them through the tube, so thatthe mixture is next encounconveyer 3, which thus thoroughlyrally-arranged lugs 6'. a process have now been ranged over a receptacle11.

tered by short lugs 6, mounted in spiral form on the shaft 3 an passingbetween short lugs 7, projecting inwardly from the cylinder. As themixture is gradually forced along the lugs 6 in revolving will passclose to the lugs 7, Inixin the paste and seeds and forcing the pasteinto the hollowed or grooved portions of the buckhorn-seeds. Thissection of the tube is surrounded by a steamjacket 8, to which steam issuitably admitted and exhausted.- As the seeds are gradually forcedalong the tube by and between the lugs the steam-jacket acts to dry thepaste, and the lugs will remove the surplus dry paste, polishin theseeds and leaving the paste only in t uckhorn-seeds. At the extreme endof the cylinder a perforated portion 9 is provided into which the seedsare delivered by the spi- Three steps of the completed. These stepsspecifically enumerated are, first, mixing of the seeds with the paste;second, the drying of the seeds; third, the removing of the surlpluspaste and olishing of the seeds.

he fourth and ast ste of the process is now carried out. The p0 ishedand cleaned smooth. seeds, together with the buckhornseeds, with theirgrooved portions filled with the metallic paste, fall from theperforated portion 9 of the cylinder into a hopper 10, suitablysupported therebeneath and ar- The hop er is pre erably placed over thecenter of the receptacle, so that a vertical partition 12, placed at oneside of the receptacle, stands out of line or path of the falling seeds.--Along the side nearest to the partition 12 a plurality of suitablyconstructed and operated magnets 14 are arranged. The seeds falling fromthe ho per pass the magnets, which will attract t e buckhorn-seeds,owing to the metallic substance contained in the grooves of the same,and deflect these seeds so that they will fall over the partition 12,and thus be selpiarated from the clover or smooth seeds, w ch will fallstraight into the rece tacle, as

will be evident. At the bottom of t e recepv tacle suitable doors 15 and16 are shown, by

which the seeds may be removed fromthe receptacle from time to time.

It is to be understood that the process may e grooves or cavities of thebe carried out in various ways and that the i apparatus herein shown ismerely one ofthe many constructions by which the desired result may beobtained. i

Having now fully described my invention, what I claim, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is

1 A process for separating-irregular and other foreign seeds from cloverand other smooth seeds, consisting in depositng a heavy material in theconcavities of the foreign seeds, and separating the seeds containingthe deposits of heavy material from the'other seeds by suitable means.

2. A process for separating irregular and other foreign seeds fromclover and other smooth seeds, consisting in first mixing the seeds withan adhesive paste containing a heavy material, second, drying themixture, third, removing the superfluous portions of the paste which hasbeen dried without disturbing the paste deposited in the concavities ofthe foreign seeds, and fourth, separating the foreign seeds containingthe ]paste deposits from the other seeds by suitab e means.

3. A process for separating irregular and other foreign seeds fromclover and other smooth seeds, consisting in depositing a metallicmaterial in the concavities of the foreign seeds and then separating theforeign seeds from the other seeds by magnetic attraction. v

4. A process'for separating irregular and other foreign seeds fromclover and other smooth seeds, consisting in first mixing the seedswitlra paste having'metallic properties so that the concavities of theforeign seeds are filled by the said paste, second, drying the mixture,third, removing the surplus paste which has been dried and olishing theseeds leaving the paste only in t e concavities of the foreign seeds,and fourth, separating the seeds having the metallic grooves 01" pastedeposits from the other seeds by mag- DAVID s. oooK Witnesses:

A. L. PHELPS, M. B.SCHLEY.

